Eighth Fleet Saga 1 Old Version
by MrEmperor
Summary: DEAD - The galaxy is looking peachy for the SGC, until giant flying wedges show up! Dead now. Rewrite is go! 6/13/12
1. Chapter 1: The rift

Space was dark outside of the control bridge. All around the surrounding ships were reorienting themselves for the next jump. The Eighth fleet had been cruising on its mission to crush the Rebels out in the rim for two weeks now, and they were only halfway there. That was why no one was expecting the disaster…

When the computer finally cried out its alarm however, the event was over and everyone had felt it happen.

"What was that! No, I'll be on the bridge in just a second. I'll be right there," said Admiral Neebs, commander of the Eighth Imperial Fleet. The commander was a tall man, over six feet, and wore his Imperial uniform with obvious pride. He had been on his way to the bridge of his personal flagship when he felt the lurch. Power had fluctuated wildly and blown out some of the lights. As he raced out of the turbo shaft he noticed that the exterior lights were also down, preventing him from seeing the rest of his command.

At the entrance to the bridge, Admiral Neebs paused for a moment to straighten his uniform and strode through the gray blast doors onto his command bridge. Walking calmly down the elevated walkway over the huge bridge pits off to each side, he nodded to himself as he watched the numerous bridge ratings and officers scurry from console to console working desperately. Idly, he noticed that the lights in here were all fine. After staring out the front window down the long pointed shape of his powerful warship, he turned sharply and barked out an order, "I want a situation report from all sections! Ensign Lanro, call up the rest of the fleet on Holonet. I want reports from every ship in the fleet!"

Glancing up worriedly at the commander, Ensign Lanro, the new communications rating stuttered, "Sir, Holonet seems to be down!"

"No need for panic, just use the Hypercom. We'll let the others know as well." The Admiral said kindly. But behind his mask of a face, his mind churned, as he listened to the rest of the reports, seeking the most likely cause for this failure. "Find me the Rebel sympathizers that did this!" he finally ordered. "And get the sensors back up, NOW!"

* * *

On one of the supply ships, an urgent meeting was taking place. The occasional passerby might have noticed the noises coming out of the humid storage room. Power had not quite been restored to all sections and so the remaining lights flickered every so often. The passerby would have heard several low voices arguing intensely. "I'm telling you, that wasn't us! We might have to reveal ourselves so that we don't get blamed for this," That was the current object of attention for this specific group. "I'm telling ya guys, high command is gonna blame US for this."

"It doesn't matter. They can't touch us. He knows that. Most likely they're going to kill off all the Rebel traitors in their midst." While all the people at this meeting wore long, dark robes, this speaker's seemed to be darker than usual and had the hood up.

One hotshot spoke up, "I say we help them rout out those Rebels! I mean, what did they ever do to help us out? Now we get the scum back for that!"

"Not so fast!" The leader spoke up. "We're not going to help the admiral, and we're not going to reveal ourselves. We need to just find out what happened, and we'll act from there. Fear is running rampant in the hallways, and the commanders are in the middle of working things out themselves. We will take **no** action for now. Is that clear to everyone? Lars or Tinne, any problems? No? Good. What about you Sara?" he added darkly.

"I'm fine with whatever you say." _'For now, old man…'_ she thought as she stalked off as they all dispersed.

* * *

The real Rebel-lovers were rounded up in a matter of hours. The new problem was that, while the rest of the fleet was here, no one could tell where 'here' was.

"What do you mean, 'It's not on any star charts'!"

"That's exactly what I do mean, sir. And before anyone asks, no, we're not in the unknown regions. I'll explain briefly." Standing up, Lieutenant Sanders proceeded to turn on the holo projector in the center of the table. Everyone was seated around a long oval table and while power had been restored fully, the assembled commanders and captains of the fleet were uneasy. "Even in the unknown regions, we would be able to see some of the stars in the rest of the galaxy. We haven't found a single one that matches yet. Now this next part is just a guess of mine, but based on the last readings we took before the event, I would say that we've been shifted into another galaxy at least." After the room quieted down, Neebs calmed everyone down and motioned for Sanders to continue. Glancing around the dull grey room, so much like the room he was in at the Second Battle of Hoth he continued, "It's pretty simple really. None of the stars match up, and that wave that hit us was very powerful and had some boyse-tachyon elements in it. Both of these mean that we're at **least** in another galaxy, and at worst —"

"What do you mean at worst?" Rear Admiral Mutabi spoke up. A short mulish looking man he was currently in disgrace and thought by most people to be a little toady for Grand Moff Tarkin. "Surly we can just wait until the Emperor notices we don't show up on time? Surely **he** would send out someone to investigate?"

"We can't wait around forever, Mutabi. If they don't find us, what then? Let's let the youngster finish talking before we start talking policy." There was a round of 'hear, hears' all around and Sanders continued.

"Ahem. As I was saying, I've done a little testing of the physical constants here, and while they match mostly; there are several discrepancies that indicate, at least to me, that we're not in the same universe anymore. However, we are still running tests on some of the data, so we might find some new contradicting information. It is our belief that we are in another universe, with no sure way of returning."

"Thank you Sanders. You may go." After Sanders left the room, Admiral Neebs stood up. "Here are my thoughts gentlemen. We seem to be stranded in another universe, away from all Imperial support and allies. There is only one thing to do in this case, from my point of view." He stood up and began to pace the room. "We will endeavor to expand the Empire in this new universe, for the glory of Emperor Palpatine!" There was only scattered applause among the assembled officers. "What _IS_ this? I am continuing our mission, just as the Emperor would have willed it. Besides, even if this new empire were in **Palpatine's** name, **we** would rule it! Think of it my friends, a whole new galaxy ripe for conquering, by you and me. Together we can expand the New Order and, of course, the Eighth Fleet would rule it all. Right here from our flagship, the Super Star Destroyer, Tyrannus!"

This got much larger cheers. The only noticeable dissenters were Mutabi and his supporters. They still feared the Emperor's power too much to go along with the scheme. It was too bad, thought Neebs; I'm going to have to remove them. What a pity…

Sara knew that she had to get away from the stifling grip of the Order. Unfortunately, the only way she knew how was to volunteer to go on one of the scouting missions being assembled. Officially, she was only a junior grade comms technician, so it might have been hard for her to get what she wanted. If it wasn't for her friendship with the Captain, she wasn't sure that she could arrange it.

* * *

As she walked down the halls, she passed several squads of stormtroopers talking along the way. One group was muttering about Jedi, and several others wanted to blame the Rebels, although no one thought they had the power to do this to them yet, so soon after the last battle.

Reaching her destination, and the first test of her old friend's loyalties, she stopped before the turboshaft to Yamato's quarters. The stormtroopers on guard there, snapped to attention, "Hold on there. What's your business here?"

"I'm here to see the captain. I have an appointment." That wasn't a lie, she had actually set up this meeting so she could work unopposed, and unmonitored by the others.

"Ah, right then," the lead guard said, checking his datapad. Motioning with his hands, he waved her through, "Everything seems to be in order. Just one moment." He fiddled with the controls, and the turboshaft opened up. "Just one more thing; do you know the situation is?" he asked hopefully. Shaking her head slightly, she closed the doors. At the top, she walked into a nice, but spartan room. It had a magnificent view of the ship, an Imperial Star Destroyer II.

The captain turned, smiled and asked, "How's it going Sara? I haven't seen you since graduation!" He had been a close friend through training on Cardia and at the Fleet Academy in orbit around Kuat. He pulled up two chairs and sat down.

"I'm doing fine, now. It was kinda rough after I got kicked out of pilot school, but I've recovered well. I see you got in the command track in time?" She relaxed and opened up to him, spending time catching up that she hadn't had the luxury of recently.

Much later after he laughed at one of her better jokes, "Yeah, I guess you're right! But enough about that. What did you want to see me about? You know that I still owe you for that one time, so if there's anything I can do, let me know."

"Oh! I was wondering if you could get me a spot on one of the upcoming recon missions, sir." Watching the startled look that flashed across his face, she knew she had made a slight mistake.

"How, did you — never mind… I guess the grapevine does travel faster than light. Each ship will be sending out one team of four. Why should I include you in my team?"

"For one thing, while I'm one of the best junior grade comms techs! The team will have to communicate by hyperwave, because Holonet is down. They'll need me to communicate with the fleet. Plus I've a degree in linguistics, so I can serve as a translator." She shot back at him, appalled and angry that he would doubt her.

"I see…. You have been busy, but I think we need someone with better combat skills. No offence, but I doubt that you could have the skills of a front line trooper!" He laughed, then paused after hearing an ominous 'snap-hiss'. Turning around slowly he whispered, "I take it that this isn't a regulation weapon?"

Sara smiled coldly. "Of course it is." She enjoyed the contortions his face went through. "Although, only if you're in the right group. No I'm not a Jedi, if that makes you feel any better" She said, forestalling the tremendous flood of questions she knew was coming. "If you'll notice, the blade is **red**, not blue or green." She paused, to wait for the realization to hit. Then when she was sure he understood, she continued, "Now that you understand my new position, we can get down to business. I'm sorry to have to drag you into this, but you were the only one that I could think of," she pleaded. "I'm out of contact with my superiors, so I'm on my own now. If you think that makes me any less powerful, think again. But enough about that, I can help you, you know. The captains will be setting up a new empire here. I'm willing to place myself at your service, to help you in the internal and external conflicts that are sure to follow."

"I think I see where this is going. Well, I can't say I have any objections to some help, nor can I raise any about combat skills. If you really want to go so badly, you're on the team." Reaching behind him, he pulled out a datapad, and handed it over. "All the information is on here. Good luck on your mission! We'll have to have a longer talk after you get back."

Sara nodded and walked out of the room reading the datapad, deep in thought.

* * *

It had been hard finding a secluded, and unmonitored, area to land the shuttle in. The pilot had remarked that that was one of the main problems with the Lambada class shuttles. He also made a recommendation that they be replaced with something stealthier now that they didn't have contact with KDY or anything.

The journey out to this planet hadn't taken too long. The fleet was parked in an interplanetary debris field, constructing a new set of shipyards. This shuttle was one of many being sent out to explore various ports nearby. The mission for this group was to acquire a local vessel and return with it to the Devastator, their base ship.

There were four people on each team. This group had Sara, a comm tech, Kyp Fisto, a demolitions specialist and all-around weapons guy, a slicer named Kelric, and lieutenant Paelleon, not related to the famous one that triumphed at the Second Battle of Hoth after his superiors all died. In the pilot's mind they would get along well.

Since this was a purely informational mission, they had all dressed in local garb, a loose fitting tunic and a robe that went over it. This planet was a minor trading stop in the region. In fact, it was so minor that there was only one important settlement on this planet. While in itself this wasn't too odd, the fact that the settlement had one object that had higher than normal power fluctuations did seem rather peculiar. After a days walk towards the city, they reached the outskirts.

"These people don't seem that much above Tuskin Raiders! I mean, look at the huts and shabby stone buildings they have here! Where is the order in a situation like this? It would be a blessing if the fleet wiped this place out and replaced it with a modern spaceport!" Kelric seemed especially disgusted with the city. Sara and Kyp didn't seem to notice and the LT was studiously ignoring the smell. Kelric did shut up after witnessing the first vessel to leave the spaceport.

It was a brown and gold pyramidal vessel, spreading out to two winglets on either side. There were no obvious signs of weapons, but it still took their breath away with the ease that it maneuvered. "I see you are impressed with our ships!" spinning around to face the voice, they saw a tall man, wearing robe like garments and with a holstered weapon of some kind. The man was oozing anticipation and greed Sara noted but paid more attention to what he said next. "If you're interested in a vessel like that, you've bumped into the right person! My name is Mallar, and I deal in —"

"Old used cargo ships. Don't let him warm up my friends, or you'll never be rid of him." Another man dressed similarly as the first walked up to them. Ignoring the dark look he got from Mallar, he continued. "I am Talar, a humble merchant and let me be the first to welcome you to the port of Sharnish! We deal in every kind of goods imaginable, from old System Lord equipment to free Jaffa weapons, to a few bits of salvaged Asgard technology! If you came to buy, you're in luck! We just got a cache of Tau'ri weapons and comm. gear. Now if you'll step over here, we can get down to the bargaining,"

" Fine by me. Sara, Kyp go take a recon around," The LT said. "Kelric and I will deal with these merchants. We'll meet up in the central plaza near the big ring in say, three hours."

"Yessir!"


	2. Chapter 2: Confrontation

Thanks for the compliments.

Allen Pitt: I'm pretty sure no Wraith, but that's because we don't know too much about them yet. About the Death Star, the Imperials know how useful they are, but they should also be able to see what happened to the last one.

Everyone, please read and review!

* * *

Coming in behind their MALP, SG-20 was greeted by a sight that was beginning to bore them. "They never get tired of putting out the welcome mat do they sir?"

"You're right, but they keep wanting to talk about it." Rolling her eyes behind his officer's back, Sergeant Angua waited for Lieutenant commander Vimes to make the first move.

"We come in peace. We come from earth. And it looks like your leaders came to us." He calmly lit his cigar and waited for the assembled 'community leaders' to return to some sort of calm. "We are here to round up some weapon smugglers. Not just any sort of weapon dealers, though. I mean we kinda like some of you, but the kind that steals our weapons, and then sold them to the Goa'uld. SGC would like the greatest of cooperation and so would the Free Jaffa Nation." He had to wait for the accusations and recriminations to subside.

"Why do you come here? We have done nothing wrong! We just sell what we are sold." These comments were echoed by some hecklers far to the back of the crowd.

"If you'll let us search, we'll let you know. The just have nothing to fear!" The four of them slowly but surely pushed their way through the crowd. After the town authorities cleared the crowd, 'commander' Vimes addressed his team.

"Cheery and 'Carrot top' will go search the east side. Angua, you're with me."

* * *

'Carrot top', or Thomas when people ignored his flaming red hair, was the team's linguist, but he hated combat. At 6'3" he was imposing alone, next to Cheery, he looked like some kind of giant. Cheery was the team's civilian Tech, but at 4' even, she looked like a dwarf. Currently not finding anything, they were taking a break in one of the ubiquitous small cafés around here.

"I doubt we're going to find anything. I mean we did make a showy entrance and let everyone know what we were after." Carrot sighed and tilted his chair back. "Man I wish we had some excitement here."

"I know what you mean. Of all the teams, we have seen the least action. SG-1 keeps doing all the cool stuff, and SG-2 and three are up there too. We just get grunt work like this. For all we've done, we could be policemen!"

**KERBAM**

Spinning out of their seats, Cheery and Carrot spun to face the source of the disturbance. It was centered on a woman and one of the merchants. Edging closer Carrot caught a little of what they were saying.

"—like that! Try that price again and you're not going to **have** a store left to cower in!" The woman was effortlessly holding up one of the merchants by his throat and yelling into his face. Tossing him aside like so much meat, she turned to her companion and glared at the growing crowd.

Stepping forward quickly, Carrot confronted the incoming guards and left Cheery to talk to the parties involved. "What happened here? Can anyone tell me what caused this?"

"The off-worlder didn't like the bargain, so she attacked!"

"The shopkeeper tried to get her to sell herself to him."

"She—"

"I think that's enough. Ok, We've got everything under control. This is an Earth matter now."

The woman shifted her glare to Cheery, "We have no need of your assistance."

"Really? Then could you handle the full troop of Jaffa guards coming this way?"

"Of course. They're just natives. They wouldn't last long against us," she sneered.

"What! Lady you must be from farther away than I thought. Now then, enough about that; what happened here?"

"Psh. We were bargaining and then he made an offer that I would never meet. He got angry, thought and then said that I could sell myself to him for the item."

"That's not what happened at all!" the merchant spoke up, gathering himself up out from the remains of his table. "I was dealing honorably with her like all my customers and —"

"Yeah right. You tried to cheat that To'kra trader and then tried to double cross the Lucien Alliance. You're just that good at pissing off your customers!"

Carrot turned to the crowd and waited for the patrol to arrive. It seemed obvious to **him** what had gone on. The stupid merchant could be fed to the Replicators for all he cared.

* * *

Sara was kinda ticked off at these two newcomers. While they seemed to be from some sort of military, they couldn't be from this planet. They were carrying some very odd-looking weapons and while she could see the practicalities of the green uniform, it wasn't very useful in a city. Plus it didn't really inspire fear. Walking slowly up to the short one, "We don't need your help. I had this situation under control," Sara said darkly.

"Hey, not that I'm arguing with you, **but** the locals don't like it when you bash up their citizens."

"Locals? I take it you're not from around here either?" Kyp spoke up, coming closer to enter the conversation.

"Yeah, we're not. We come from Earth. We're part of the SGC program. You know, hopping the galaxy, exploring strange new worlds through the Stargates. Stuff like that."

"Stargates? I haven't heard of a ship like that? What's so special?" Sara knew she looked confused. Sure those 'cargo ships' were quite small, but what was this 'Stargate'?

The short one was astonished. "You didn't get here through the Stargate? But you're trying to buy a ship?"

Kyp winced.

"How did you get here then?"

"It's a long story, that I don't have time for right now," Sara lied, taking the hint from Kyp. "Sorry about this, really." She shrugged, waved, and Kyp opened fire with his blaster pistol.

The blast hit the dwarf dead on, but only knocked her down. _She had some kind of armor._ "Let's move!" Sara ordered, and the pair dashed off, covering their retreat with potshots.

Carrot was stunned by the audacity of the attack, and was only able to respond by firing at their retreating backs. After losing sight of them, he turned to Cheery and gave her a hand up. "What was that all about?"

Also puzzled, Cheery replied, "I really don't know, but we need to let Vimes know." Turning on her radio, "Sir, we've got a problem."

* * *

Vimes had just handed over the smuggler to the authorities and began to relax when Cheery's voice dutifully informed him that an unknown person(s) had shot her, and that she and Carrot were heading down to the spaceport to try and stop them from escaping. "This Sergeant Angua is why you should never get promoted."

"Really, Sir?" Angua raised an eyebrow. "I thought that things like this are why I should never get put on off-world duty?" She rose and paid the waiter.

Finishing his coffee, Vimes stood up and began to move towards the spaceport. "I'll head for the spaceport, you tell the city guards to close off the 'gate. Hopefully they won't be too much of a hindrance."

"And after that sir?"

"Meet us at the spaceport. We might need your help." He waved her off, and took off at a respectable speed towards the spaceport.

* * *

As Vimes jogged up to the main entrance to the port, he noticed that none of the guards on duty had god marks on them. Shrugging mentally, he slowed to a walk and panted out, "Hey, have you let anyone in just now?"

"Just a merchant selling one of his ships. Why do you inquire?" Stone-faced the lead guard responded.

"Some off-worlder attacked one of my men, and I'd like to know why! I'd think you guys would too."

"Indeed. Someone who did not recognize one of the Tau'ri is far from a normal being." He called out orders to check on the merchant and then turned back to Vimes. "Why do you think these people would head here? Would not the Chappa'i be a better means of escape?"

Just then Cheery and Thomas dashed around the corner. "If you're wondering why we think they'll head here," Cheery guessed, "it's because they seemed to have no knowledge of the Stargates."

This comment dropped the group into stunned silence. Vimes was the first to break it. "But you said they looked Human?"

"Yes. They looked as human as anyone the Goa'uld took from Earth." Cheery said, about to drop into one of her 'lectures'.

"Right." Vimes interrupted her, forestalling any more babblings. "They looked like they were human, didn't know about the Stargates, and used some kind of new-fangled weapon? Right?"

Crestfallen, Cheery nodded, then perked up, "But think of what this means! A world that was able to develop the technology to cross the stars without help. I mean for all we know this could have been a scouting party for a slowboat ship!" Cheery reveled in the possibilities.

"Or," Angua said, having snuck up on them, "they could be scouting for a hostile fleet of aliens, intent on taking over the galaxy." She raised an eyebrow, staring everyone down.

These Tau'ri were very strange, thought the guard captain.

* * *

"Crap!"

"What is it, Sara?"

"There's a whole bunch of guards between us and the port. Two of them look like those two we ditched earlier. Two more are wearing the same kind of uniform." Sara passed over the electro binoculars to Kyp.

"You're right." He said after taking only a cursory look at the assembled group. "There are too many for us to take on. Plus they're right between Paelleon and us. He lowered the 'binocs grumbling to himself.

"Hey, watch what you're saying! I could take them all on, but then it wouldn't be a surprise later." Seeing the incredulous look on her companion's face, she grinned and told him she'd tell him later. "What we need is a distraction. I wonder what would work on them…"

"Why don't you call Paelleon and see what's going on on his end?"

Sara almost smacked herself. She was supposed to be the comm. tech here. Pulling out her modified comlink, she whispered, "LT. Paelleon, what's your status? We're currently outside the port, facing four to one odds. What do you want us to do sir?"

There was a moment of static, and then an unfamiliar voice startled her, "Be advised the lieutenant is on his way now to pick you up. Please be ready to be ringed aboard."

Hesitating, Sara muttered to Kyp, "'Ringed aboard'? Who does he think he is?" Lifting the comlink to her lips, "Whoever this is, get off and put the LT back on. If I find out that he's been harmed in any way I'll make sure—"

"I'm glad to know you cared." The LT's voice broke in. "This area of space has some intere4sting forms of unconventional technology. You two are about to get a first hand taste of it. The only thing you need to do is to get out into the open in about two minutes, OK?"

"Got it sir. As long as you're sure this is going to work." She clicked off the comlink and turned to Kyp.

"Age before beauty!" she offered.

"Ladies first." Kyp said simultaneously. Glaring at each other, their glares gave way to wry smiles, as they pulled out their blasters, and took aim.

* * *

Carrot recovered first from the unexpected humor their friend had evoked. Therefore, he has also the first to notice the swiftly moving shapes bursting out of the alley. "Incoming!" He tossed himself to the side, and the first shots missed. Behind him he heard the Jaffa guards yelling something about an unofficial take off, but he dismissed that from his mind and concentrated on shooting back. Joining the rest of the team, he ducked behind a recently upturned vendor's table, to return fire. It was only after he fired his first burst that he recognized the whine of an incoming cargo ship. He saw Cheery open fire on the two people that had shot them earlier, only to have the cargo ship hover briefly over them, ring them up, and fly away. Cursing to himself, he took a couple pot shots at the rapidly fleeing enemy and got up from the ground.

"Well, that was fun." Vimes commented, dusting himself off.

Turning to the guard captain, Angua argued, "Call the defense force! We need death gliders in the air to follow them!"

Unperturbed, the guard argued forcefully, "If the Tau'ri want them so bad, you pay the bills then! I'm not so sure why you wanted these people arrested in the first place."

"Fine!" Angua yelled back. "Then let **your** government pay for the future damage that they might cause!"

Aboard the rapidly ascending cargo ship, Sara was still shaken from her experience with the 'rings', as their pilot had called them. Getting herself back under control, she went up to Kelric to get the low down on their end of things. Inwardly she was wondering what the so-called 'Stargates' where that caused that soldier to freak out. She resolved to put that bit of info at the top of her list. Right up there next to what was this SGC was and how powerful it could be.


	3. Chapter 3: Help?

Thanks for your patience. I've just had a bunch of stuff to get done. For those of you who reviewed, keep it up! For those of you who haven't, ...

Oh, I don't own anything here except what I made up.

**

* * *

**

**SGC: One day later**

"So what you're telling me is that while you found the arms dealer, you bumped into a group of people who, one: didn't know about the Stargates, and two, were there to buy a ship?" General Landry asked.

"Yes," Cheery said hesitantly.

"I can see two things possibly wrong with this report. First, did you take into consideration the fact that they might have been lying? And secondly, your conclusion that these might be some kind of new threat is frankly, overrated." He held up one hand to prevent an outburst. "Now I will be handing your report on those new weapons you saw to Lt. Colonel Carter ASAP, but you guys go get some well needed rest. Dismissed!"

**

* * *

**

**Onboard the Imperial II Star Destroyer Cardia: One day after Sharnish**

"Now that I've heard your report, let me get this straight." Captain Yamato asked, pacing around his ready room. "There seem to be at least one if not two major interstellar governments here, they have matter transport technology, and also apparently interstellar wormhole generation, and yet they use SLUGTHROWERS!"

"Not just slugthrowers, sir. One of the groups were using long energy rifles if you'll recall." Sara said helpfully as the others fidgeted nervously in their chairs.

"Well, after the Admiral got a look at this, he's decided to send you and your team to try and learn more about these groups. But also know, we've begun offensive operations, so you'll have to be careful. Now that we've 'extracted' all the relevant information out of your local pilot, don't look at me like that. I didn't order it you know. You can go prepare yourselves on the simulators. You've got at least a couple of days before you need to go."

**

* * *

**

**Aschen Space: aboard a Lucian Alliance smuggler ship**

"Hey Boss! How're we going to land here again?"

Brand, the pilot of the cargo ship, turned to face his subordinate, "We're going to coast in like a meteor and when we're close enough, power up and land." He turned away, shaking his head and wondering just what he had done to piss off his boss. Sighing, he turned back to the view screen. As his eyes widened and proximity alarms blared, he twisted his ship in a tight spin away from the impossibly huge wedge that just appeared right in front of him. "Give me more power!" he screamed at his engineer, or at lest what he had in place of one. "We're going into hyperspace NOW!"

Unfortunately, those would be his last words ever spoken. For a hotshot Imperial gunner took a pot shot at the small vessel with his capital turbolaser. The gunner gave a shrug as the rest of his crew congratulated him on his nice shot. Then they concentrated on the first world scheduled to fall to the Empire of the Eighth Fleet.

**

* * *

**

**Aschen HQ: Same time**

Alarms echoing in the background, the leaders of the Aschen were gathered to face the newest threat to them. The current speaker, the youngest of the group and the only one not involved in their failed Stargate program, was exhorting his fellows to, "— forget the past! We need someone's help now! Yes, I know that they gave us bad data for the Stargate addresses, but we were going to 'help' them ourselves. Currently we don't know the location of anyone else who exists, let alone be willing to help us. If we send a message now, and we lose, what will it matter? Yet if we do this and we survive, all we lose is our pride and arrogance." He paused glaring at the assembled elders and dared anyone to contradict him.

At the far end of the table, the eldest rose, "My boy, we are not ever sure of their own location, let alone if they would be willing to help us, their former allies. It is for this reason that the council has decided to defeat the invaders on our own." Turing to the rest of the council he closed the meeting with the simple phrase, "We are the Aschen, and we will prevail."

Pacing back and forth in his quarters in the underground bunker, Arlin waited for his aide to return. "Stupid old fools! Can't they see that these huge ships could do? They don't talk; they just sit up there and shoot! We've even seen that they've launched landing craft! And yet 'We will prevail!' Psh!"

A knock on the door interrupted his mutterings. Opening the door, he welcomed in the chief of Stargate security. Motioning him to take a seat, Arlin sank down behind his desk.

"You know the latest threat assessments. Report."

Fidgeting slightly under Arlins now stone cold eyes, the captain began. "Using what they've chosen to let us observe of their numbers and technology, we don't expect our limited aerospace force to last three more days. After that, we're not sure about the exact capabilities of their ground forces, but assuming the same level of advancement over our own under manned ground forces," he sighed, and deflated with despair. Continuing, he managed to get out, "Not more than a week, two at most for organized military action, maybe more if we hand over all major areas and wage a guerrilla war from the wilderness. I'm sorry sir, but there's nothing more we can do! They outclass us in every way!"

Arlin was visibly shaken, more at the captain's attitude more than anything else. "What about an address that the Earthers have been to, or set up an outpost? Have you had any luck?" Pleading against his own now oppressing despair, Arlin waited for the man to get himself back under control.

"That we've had better luck with. We've found one of their chief off-world settlements. From what we've been able to tell, it's called the Gamma Site."

Arlin sat up straighter with a slight gleam in his eye, "Good news at last! Captain, assemble a team for me. We're going to head right there as soon as possible. Bring the latest communication intercepts and Intel."

"Um, Sir? We haven't been able to determine what kind of method of communication they are using. It's not on any of the EM bands that we would think they'd be using."

Blinking slightly at this, Arlin brushed it aside, "Whatever. Bring what we have. I'll meet you in the gate room in fifteen minutes." With that, Arlin swept him out of the room to make a few last minute calls.

**

* * *

**

**Gamma Site Gate Camera: Same Day**

SCHRAM

The noise would have told any of a hundred peoples that something momentous was occurring. Unfortunately the camera installed out here lacked a microphone to transmit this important information back to its masters. Luckily, its masters had ways around that.

"—Ert! Unscheduled Off-world Activation! —"

"Whua?" The sleeping rating woke with a jerk. Quickly shaking his head to clear the cobwebs, he snuck a glance around to see if anyone had noticed. Seeing that no one even seemed to care, he finally realized what the alarm was saying. Spinning quickly around to his monitors he caught only the barest whisper,

"Good job. You should know that it's your problem."

On the monitors, five people stepped from the shimmering veil of the gate. Four of them were armed, he noted; assuming they were an equivalent to an SG team. The last person seemed to be a business exec, or a politician. However, the fact that he was wearing a suit helped.

"I wonder who they could be?" Running his mind through the list of people who could have access to suits like that, the list ended with… He lifted the phone by his elbow, and called the commander. "Sir! We have unscheduled off-worlders on planet. I think they might be with the Trust!"

* * *

After one of the comm. Techs pointed out where the Earth base was, Arlin didn't waste any more time. He ordered everyone to move out at the fastest possible pace. Barely an hour later, they were stopped just out of sight of the base by a group of armed soldiers.

"Halt! State your business with Earth, you Trust weasels!"

Arlin stepped forward to face the obvious leader. "We are not part of the 'Trust' that you speak of," Arlin spoke slowly and carefully. "I am Arlin, a member of the Aschen High Council, and I come to ask for your people's help." He stepped forward in a gesture of pleading.

Scratching his head, the lead guard said, "Well I can see that this will be confusing…"

**

* * *

**

**SGC: Two hours later**

If General Landry looked astonished after he had finished hearing the report from the Gamma site, he looked, well; it's kinda hard to say what he looked like after hearing from SG-1.

"So you're telling me that we were warned by yourselves from the future to stay away from theses Aschen, but that later we bumped into them on one of their colony planets. Then they tried to trick us into becoming a barren species and yet they got away with a list of very nasty surprises when they opened up their stargate?" SG-1 nodded, and he continued. "Yet you're still recommending that we send a team to check this situation out?"

Daniel spoke up first, "If they are telling the truth, then at least one segment of their population seems willing to trade and join the growing interstellar community, Sir."

Sam interjected, "If the threat is as big as they say it is, we'll need the kind of data we can get on them sooner rather than later. Also, sir, if the invaders are using the kinds of weaponry that SG-20 witnessed, then frankly, the Aschen don't stand a chance."

In the face of this seemingly united front, Landry turned to Teal'c, "what do you think Teal'c? I'd value your input on this."

"It would seem to be in our best interests at this time to assist the Aschen. If you do not object I will contact the Free Jaffa Nation to see if it would be able to send assistance." Teal'c got up and left for the gate room.

Mitchell put in his two bits, "Sir, I think that we should believe them. I've read the same reports that you have, but I think that we should go scope this out."

Seemingly defeated, Landry gave his 'orders', "Statr planning a recon mission with SG-20 to the Aschen homeworld. I'll get on the phone with Homeworld Security at once."

Everyone rose as he left, "Yes Sir!"

**

* * *

**

**Gamma Site: one hour later**

Arlin wished he knew more of what the Earthlings would decide. He had been here for over three hours, with no word on how things were progressing. It was both frustrating and understandable. That was why when he heard the guards at the door to his holding cell move he was more than prepared to face the news that his people's request for help would be turned down. That was also the reason that he nearly had a heart attack when the group that had confronted his people before stepped into the room.

"Welcome!" he managed to say. "I am glad to see such heroic members being sent to visit me." He paused and then continued. "Not trying o be presumptuous, but may I inquire as to the health of one Jack O'Neil?"

"Jack is doing fine. In fact, he was recently promoted back home." Mitchell said.

"I'm glad to hear it," Arlin replied. "What about my government's request?"

Surprised by the genuine feelings this man had, Sam told him.

**

* * *

**

**Unnamed Eighth Fleet supply ship**

Brown robed figures met in the dank confines of the room. It was unchanged except for the single lamp that illuminated the center of the room. Two figures entered the small spot of light, one tall and striding like a general. The other, hunched over, creaking along with a cane in his hands. Quiet settled over the assembled members of the Order.

"My Friends!" the tall one announced. "We have a clear sign that the time to move is at hand! The Fleet has moved against it's first enemy, and has met no resistance!"  
From the back, where the light was darkest a voice cried out, "No resistance? Or just nothing our numbers could not overrun?"

The general-figure spun to face that voice. "Come on out Old Man. I know that _you_ are the one hiding in the darkness!" That comment got a few appreciative chuckles. "Come out into the light so that we may all gaze on this naysayer of the 'dark side'"

"Fine then, I will." The brown robed man walked into the light by the general-figure. "I will come forward and also speak!" He raised his hands entreatingly. "My brothers. Do you not remember how things were before this dark war? Back in the time of the Old Republic! Back before Palpatine bade us to set aside our differences with the Sith for the good of the war against the Ssi-rui?" He lowered his voice. "But also my brothers, before the Civil War. This war that sets us all against each other? The new war between Light and Dark? Do we want to restart the path that led us to that war that we have just now been allowed to escape!"

"Get to the point Old Man."

"I propose that we send a few members to investigate this galaxy more thoroughly. We all know how badly Probe Droids can mess up. To put it bluntly, we have no idea what this galaxy holds. We should investigate things here."

"Who then would you nominate? One of your precious 'lightsiders'?"

'_I know I'm going to regret this_' he thought. "Not at all." He said to the astonishment of everyone. "I nominate Sara. She should be at least one of them. After that, we should pick four more teams. Two for my 'lightsiders' and two more for your Sith."

"This is acceptable." The hunched figure rasped. "This agreement is to the will of the Force. You will all agree to this course of action now, or else we will all fall."

Stunned, the leaders of he two factions conferred quickly, and then spoke as one, "Agreed."

TBC...


	4. Chapter 4: The Fall of Aschen

Sorry for the wait. I've been busy with all kinds of things. I'll try to get back to a regular update schedule soon.

Oh, I don't own Star Wars, Stargate, or anything else, unless I made it up.

**

* * *

**

**Onboard the Imperial II Star Destroyer Cardia: During the attack on Aschen Prime**

Sara was still miffed that they weren't participating in the first major offensive. Still, the next mission should be more difficult, as her team had proven to be the fastest group to return with a "cargo ship". Currently she was moping in the ships bar, nursing along a drink. She was so lost in her own thoughts that she only noticed the man next to her after he had sat down.

He glanced over at her when he got his drink. "Cheers!" he proclaimed, dark eyes glinting. "Why's a lovely lady like you doing all lone at a time like this?" the man asked as he waved his hand to cover to present situation. "I mean, the Empire is rising once again!" he lowered his voice dramatically, "Only this time it's the Admirals who are doing the building, not the politicians." He grinned and nudged her. "It's got to be better starting over, rather than trying to build off of the Republic."

"I don't have time for this, Nage. I've got too much coming up to 'conspire' with you." Sara sighed. Some people never change. "Why are you bothering me again?" she asked, shaking her head.

Quickly, Nage glanced around, almost insuring that if anyone was watching that they would know that he was up to something, and beckoned her to lean towards him. "It's a secret." He said in his best stage whisper. As she started to pull away in slight annoyance, he hurriedly continued. "Not from you my dear Sara. I've got a message from the Council. Your team will be assigned to locate the home world of the Tau'ri, and infiltrate it if possible."

Sara, now thoroughly alert, nodded. She and Nage knew that this was important. But more than that, Sara knew she needed this mission.

**

* * *

**

**Aschen Surface**

The battle had gone quite well for the invaders. The Aschen were mostly peaceful and moved slowly, favoring genetic bioweapons if at all possible. Unluckily for the Aschen, they hadn't found the Empire; it had found them.

Currently the Aschen defenders were trying to hold back an Imperial advance of no less than 3 AT-ATs and over 24 AT-STs. Needless to say, it wasn't going very well.

"…Can't stop 'em!"

"Look ou—"

"Flank them! Move in a…"

"…repeat, Fall Back! The invaders have breached the second defense perimeter!"

A cold voice blasted over all the com chatter, "Thank's for telling us that. It makes it much easier than waiting for the order to move."

Silence greeted the interruption, and more than one unit froze, waiting. The veterans, however few they were, dove under cover. They did the right thing, unlike those who got incinerated by the red blasts. Moving swiftly over then now-charred ground, the Imperial advance moved ever closer to the capitol, and the hidden Stargate.

For once on this mission SG-20 was silent. They were just too freaked out by what they just saw. Not really noticing this, the Aschen continued his briefing, "So you can see, we've had a tough time going against their…"

Angua leaned over to Carrot, "Do you believe this?" she whispered.

"Not really, but…" he shrugged.

"I know! I still want to think that it's all a joke, but then I —"

"Need to look at that!" Carrot cut her off, pointing to the screen. It now showed a brief clip of Aschen police attacking an enemy position. Then were in a city, hunkered down behind some rubble as what any member of SG-20 would've called an AT-ST passed by. A younger man looked to his commander wondering, you could see it in his eyes.

The voice that spoke was obviously the person who had filmed the feed. "We're not letting him go. It's just that we can't kill it on our own. What we're doing is waiting for the white goons to come up behind them." He nodded towards where the AT-ST came from. "Now you just settle down and sit tight." The young man nodded and scuttled out behind a makeshift barrier.

Then they heard shooting in the distance. There was the sound of machine guns mixed with another higher pitched set of noises. The squad tensed up and ignored the ragged troops that fled past them. Only when they heard the 'Tramp Tramp' of booted feet did they bolt from cover and start to shoot.

The tech paused the video and started talking again, "This is the basic ground unit that the invaders have. From what we've been able to intercept, they are called—"

Just about all the earthers interrupted him at that point, "Stormtroopers."

The Aschen were suitably flabbergasted. Arlin spoke first, accusing, "You KNEW of them!" He looked fit to burst, he was so red. "You KNEW of these, these, invaders and did NOTHING!" he roared out the last bit. "I trusted you, and now I find that you've known all along." He collapsed into his chair.

Jackson cleared his throat; "If I may explain?" he paused, taking the silence to be agreement, continued. "While we 'knew' of them, we never expected them to become real." Jackson got that much out quite fast. "You see, these invaders are part of something called the 'Empire'. We know of them on earth because they were part of a major set of entertainment ventures. For all we knew, they were a fiction. Now at least, we know better."

"…You say this 'Empire' was nothing more than a fiction on earth?" Arlin asked, deadly focused.

"Yes, as an entertainment show for the vid screens. It is quite popular still back on earth."

"Yet now they are real, and attacking my people?"

"How can I put this," Vimes said. He tilted his head sidewise for a moment, "Yep." Holding out his hands to forestall the next outburst, Vimes dropped his bombshell, "But now that we know who they are, we also know of some ways to beat them." Vimes grinned.

By even the end of that day, the effects of the 'new tactics' were being felt all over Aschen. While some increase in enemy combat effectiveness was expected, the methods being used were shocking the commanders in charge. Most of the tricks the Imperial forces were falling for were old Rebel tricks. The general in charge alerted his troops to be on the watch for Rebel tricks. The problem was that most of the troops had relaxed their guards, thinking the Rebellion far, far away. Reality, it looked like, wasn't cooperating. _'Oh well' _the general thought, _'at least we're still going to take the capital tomorrow, or the day after.'_

* * *

**Aschen Orbit: Next Day**

Sara and what she was coming to suspect was 'her' team, no matter what the official records said, had arrived at Aschen orbit because of rumors from prisoners that there were alien advisors helping with the defense. Their new mission was to find out how they got onto the planet and to follow them back to wherever they came from.

Currently, the team was boarding the shuttle that would take them to the planet. "Did you hear that there are Rebels down there?" Kelric was spouting off the rumors he heard while on leave. "The Aschen response had almost doubled its combat effectiveness in one day! I've heard that the defenders are using old Rebel tricks from Hoth and Kashyyyk."

Sighing, Paelleon turned to Sara, "He follows this battle like it was podracing or swoopracing."

"Boys will be boys," Sara replied, laughing. After they boarded the shuttle, she continued more seriously, "Sir, I need to tell you something of the utmost importance to the mission and to our personal safety." After waiting for Paelleon to motion her to continue, "I'm not sure if you've been briefed, but there was and still is a large contingent of the Order with the Eighth Fleet." Seeing his eyes widen, she nodded. "That's what you needed to know. I'm a Knight in the _Imperial_ Order. I'm not with the old Jedi council or the Sith league. I worked directly with Lord Vader and was one of his promising students. However, this means that without contact with Imperial City, I have lost most of my authority, and none of the resentment. The local Order is split between Jedi and Sith; neither like me, yet with my experience they need me for a time." She paused, gathering breath.

Nodding to himself, the LT summarized. "So you're a Jed- oops. I mean a force user that is disliked by all that remain, yet useful. If I see where you're going with this, it looks like we'll be getting most of the difficult missions then."

Almost collapsing with relief, Sara nodded. "Exactly. I hope this won't become a problem sir. I know that some people don't like "

"Nonsense! I have come to know you quite well, I'd hope, and as long as you use your abilities to help, and as long as you don't try to influence _me_, we'll get along fine; if not better than before. Besides," and now his eyes were sparkling, "your abilities should come in handy on this mission."

Sara did burst out laughing at that. She affectionately whacked him over the head and into the aisle.

**

* * *

**

**Daedalus B-304-05 Perdix**

Hyperspace, one of the more popular ways to beat the FTL barrier in the mulitverse, always is portrayed as stable warped colors, or shifting, unearthly patterns painted on a void. At times this is only a computer representation of a terror that would shred human minds, but in all cases it allows Humanity and others to reach for the stars.

Currently, the US Battleship Perdix was heading on a relief mission to an old enemy. The captain was still trying to wrap his mind around the fact that his galaxy had been invaded by the Empire from Starwars. It boggled the mind! After a brief bit of reflection on some of what had happened to SG-1, he had to shrug, because if some of those things could happen, then why not this? If only it had been someone _nice_ like the Federation!

The latest intelligence reports said that there were only two Star Destroyers or 'wedges' as the crews were naming them around Aschen. His mission was to assist the Aschen, and also to test his shields and weapons on the Imperial vessels. Soon they would be dropping out of hyperspace and confronting the SDs and their fighters. He could only hope that his under one-third kilometer vessel could stand up to a 1.6 km behemoth. He shuddered, and prayed that there were no Supers with them.

**

* * *

Aschen Orbit: Same time**

The docking official was glad that the he had cleared all of his passenger listings. These days, those recon teams had priority, and they didn't like to be kept waiting. He shook his head. With so many officers following in the footsteps of Vader, the middle ranked officers had a quite high turnover rate. The only bright side to this was that if any higherups screwed up, they couldn't escape either. Warlord Neebs claimed that the high command was working on these issues, but he'd believe it when he saw it.

Finishing up his duties, he transferred up to the bridge to watch the shuttle land. While the teams were haughty, they did have an aura of ingenuity and freshness. Of course, the waiting lists were very long to get on one of the many teams springing up.

When he saw the much smaller ship, compared to his own SD, but much to large to be close to that shuttle, he was one of the first to alert the commander.

* * *

The Perdix came out of hyperspace at the normal distance to the planet, right in high polar orbit. As soon as they had stabilized, the fighter squadrons had scrambled, launching 16 F-302 fighters at the enemy. The closest vessel was a small shuttle, but the pilots didn't have time to do more than scan it before the three, not two, SDs and their combat space patrols swarmed them. Needless to say, being in a mostly defenseless shuttle in the middle of a dogfight is a bad idea. 

"Paelleon, get us out of here!"

"Where did they come from?"  
"SHUT UP!" Paelleon yelled, twisting the shuttle onto a new course directly towards the planet below. "If you aren't doing anything useful, and by useful I mean getting us to the ground in one piece, shut up!"

Sara, a little calmer now, practically dove on the rear gunnery station. However, none of the new, raptor-like fighters were in range. Watching their acrobatics and she knew that they had to have a better form of inertial compensator that the TIEs had. While not as fast, they could accelerate and maneuver better than even TIE interceptors. Seeing three of them take out an entire squadron was sobering. But seeing one survive several direct hits was worse.

Her attention was wrenched back to their own plight when the first SD opened fire.

* * *

The ship rocked, jolted by the direct hits to the shields. "Status report!" 

"Shields holding, minimal damage."

"Good. Our shields seem to be better than theirs. Return fire when ready." Somehow, the captain managed to keep his voice steady. How he managed with those gargantuan daggers above and aiming directly for him, he never knew.

"Sir, the fighters are reporting easy pickings out there."

"Tell them to keep alert, and watch out for those anti-fighter ships. We know they have them, but not where yet." He had to grip the armrests after another hit rovked the command deck.

"Sir! Positive ID on TIE Bombers incoming from 3 o'clock high."

* * *

Down on the surface, SG-20 was giddy with glee when the Perdix appeared. Seeing the F-302s handle the TIEs was a good sign. But when they lost the scanner complex, they lost their signal. And that meant, "They've begun to attack the Government building. We need to start the evac plans now." Arlin began to call for the automated systems to be activated, and to begin purging the data from the computers. SG-20 dialed the Gamma site and began to hustle the remaining workers through. Only then, and Vimes insisted on this, came the families of the political leaders, followed by the leaders themselves. By the time they could actually hear the fighting in the stairwells, there were only themselves, a small rear guard, and Arlin. 

"After you, Arlin." Vimes ordered.

"No, I'll go last." Arlin insisted, as he had been for the last half hour.

Angua barked at him, "Your people NEED you to lead them. Do you think that after this, anyone else will have credibility with the people? If you want any hope of reclaiming Aschen Prime, you must live!" That last was delivered in a remarkably well done half-growl.

With that, while he stewed on what she had just said, Angua and Cheery each grabbed an arm, and tossed him through the gate. Just then, one last group of Aschen troopers, three men and a woman dashed into the gate room, locking down the door, and blasting the controls behind them.

The woman said, "Their right behind us, we need to get going fast!" Indeed, just as she said this, the sound of blaster fire began to hit the door.

SG-20 glanced at Vimes, and rushed everyone through the gate. Then right as the door blew in, they sent the signal to destroy the gate. With that signal, 10 kilograms of C-4 detonated around the gate and the Dialing device, incidentally causing a collapse and the deaths of the front troopers.

"Well, that's that, I guess." Carrot said. "The first battle of the war goes to the Empire."

The woman that came with the last group said, "Well, you know what they say, 'We may have lost the Battle, but they will not win the War'."

While that was true, Carrot could not help thinking she looked familiar…


	5. Chapter 5: Coming to Grips

As before, I really don't own Starwars or SG-1. I wish I did, maybe...

Anyway, sorry for the lack of updates. I was just starting up college for the first time. I'll try to update more often now that I'm settled in. Thanks for waiting!

* * *

**Aschen Prime Polar Orbit:**

The Perdix and her fighters had done quite a number on the Imperial fighter wings. However, now that the idiots, and the unlucky, on both sides had died, the pilots who were left were learning the weaknesses of the styles of their enemy. The TIEs had just begun to attack in mass waves, coming in from the sides in two, or even three to one odds. Meanwhile, the F-302s had learnt the hard way that the best way to kill a TIE is to just shear off a wing, at let the atmosphere do the rest.

Now though, the carnage that they were wreaking on themselves paled in comparison to that of the three Star Destroyers now firing with everything they had at the much smaller ship "below" them.

KERBLAM!

"Now then, that wasn't very nice!" Captain Paul Ingram II said as he pulled himself back into his chair. "Now then, what did that get rid of ensign?"

Glancing up from his console to the side of the Captain the ensign called out, "Sir, our shields are holding at 47, but we've been pretty good at dodging, giving the shields a chance to recharge. We have minor damage to one of the missile tubes, but not much else."

"Very good. Helm; move us closer. All railguns, open fire!"

The Perdix swung around, turning to point directly at the closest SD. Surging forward, all batteries blazing away.

"Captain, the enemy vessel is approaching. What are you commands?" The lieutenant was careful to remain respectful on the upper bridge's walkway. This was his first time to be on the bridge during a real battle, and he supposed it was pretty cool, even though he was just a message carrier.

Turning away from the holographic display, the Captain looked up. "My orders are the same. Keep firing with all turbolasers as they bear. However, and please stress this lieutenant, do not engage with ion cannons." He paused, deep in thought. "You may also give the order to begin firing with proton torpedoes." He nodded to himself. Lets see just how much you like having missiles thrown at you.

In the background, a fighter control tech was ordering his bombers to return for ammo, and was getting some backtalk. "It's not as though they can just hyper out. You'll get plenty of chances before this battle is over…. No I **don't** care that you can make your next shot. We need you to bring in your squadron to rearm **now!**"

Just then, on the Perdix, one of the sensor ratings perked up. "Sir, we've got confirmed loss of signal from SG-20's chips."

"That is the best news I've had all day. Recall the fighters; we're moving out. I rather expect that we've out stayed the new landlord's welcome." Just as quickly as the ship had surged forward, it swung about, and picked up its fighters. Then, just as the first torpedoes began to impact, it opened a hyperspace window, and vanished into it, leaving the Empire with its first major victory, and a smoking planet.

* * *

**Gamma Site: Directly after the escape**

Sara was glad her team had been able to ambush that last squad of Aschen guards. If they hadn't she'd be stuck with using the force whenever she messed up a response. Now, she had given out what she'd gleaned from their minds as they died. At least that was what she'd been thinking right before she walked through the gate and landed off balance on the other side.

"First time through?" Sgt. Angua asked kindly, as she grabbed her hand to steady her.

"Yeah, my first time." Sara managed to gasp out. What _was_ that thing? She shuddered.

"Yeah, I felt that way too, my first time. Don't worry, you'll get used to it."

"I don't think I **want** to get used to that," Kyp said from his position on the floor. "Where are we?" was his next question as he picked himself off the forest ground.

"Welcome to the Gamma Site. One of the bases the SGC has set up across the galaxy!" Vimes said, lighting up a new cigar. "Well, don't just stand there, come on! Let's get to the base." He smiled and then waved over a jeep to take them back to the base. Arlin was in another jeep, but that was fine with him.

"So, um. How many of these sites do you have?" Sara asked timidly.

"We have several of these sites all over the galaxy." Vimes waved a hand languidly in the air. "They are some of the best R&D sites we have. Quite safe in case something goes wrong, right?"

"Really? What kinds of research do you do out here?" Sara was finally getting interested in what the babbling idiot was nattering about. _'I need the location of this base.'_ Sara thought.

"Oh, I really couldn't say. I'm not sure of all that we're doing right now. I'm not usually stationed on base for long. I'm one of the fortunate few who gets to keep going out and meeting new people. Strange new worlds and all that you know?" Vimes replied, raising an eyebrow slightly as he turned to look at her. "Look, we're all soldiers here. We can drop that whole spying thing and leave it to… well the spies. We just do our job protecting our worlds, right?"

"Right. Sorry, I guess I got carried away." _'He actually believes that! What a fool. He needs to spend some time with the Empire's way of doing things.'_ Sara mentally snickered at him, but left her face chagrined. "So what kinds of things do you do out there?" She waved a hand vaguely…

The Gamma Site was almost a let down to the rest of Sara's team. "What a dump!" was Kelric's whispered comment to Kyp after seeing the unimposing slab of concrete barely rising over the nearer treetops.

Kyp elbowed Kelric for his opinion, "Shut up! That's no way to speak to the only people who tried to help us fight those invaders." After whacking him again, he turned back to an amused Angua and Cheery. "Sorry about that. He's not very politic about what he thinks. My apologies."

This time Angua did laugh out loud, "So sorry! It's just that you two remind me of two of my co-workers." She managed to choke out through her dying laughter.

Hiding, and failing, a smile of her own, Cheery covered for Angua, "Don't worry about it. It's supposed to look like that. This is really just the entrance. The real base is underneath us." She smiled.

Darting a look between them, Kyp and Kelric shut up.

* * *

**Eighth Fleet Command - SSD Tyrannus: Deep Space**

Neebs sat at his desk, head in his hands. Slowly raising his head, he looked around at his closest supporters and one… other. It really irked him to leave Mutabi alive, but hey, at least now he had someone to rag on at times like this. He allowed himself a small, painful smile to flicker across his face as he began to speak. "So, what you're telling me is that a ship one-third the side of a SD was able to stand off **three** of our own? Not to mention the fighters that just carved a hole right through our TIE squadrons like a lightsaber through flexiplast?" He began to pace menacingly around his desk. "And to top this lovely report off, he still have no idea who they are!"

"Admiral, please! I just got this job, I'm sure of my staff yet. Give me more time!" Mutabi was squeaking, and he hated it. This usurper should be dead by now. But give it time…

Neebs skewered him with a glare. Mutabi quit speaking. Moving on, Neebs stopped at a holo display. "Very well, you'll have your time. Just don't push my patience. Anyway my friends, and comrades, there is something even more disturbing than this. While it does concern the same planet as before, this Aschen Prime, it deals with the… problems encountered on the surface. I'll allow Lt. Sanders to brief you." He motioned, and Sanders walked in.

Pausing only to insure that his notes were properly loaded onto the display, Sanders took center stage. "For those who didn't know, the ground invasion of Aschen Prime went very well overall. We suffered far less than our expected losses, but there were two major anomalies. First," and he raised a finger to mark his point; "we have a graph of the losses across the time span of the invasion. As you can see clearly on the chart, there is a discontinuity here. Before this point, we barely took any losses at all. Then they jump over 400. The second thing is the tactics the defenders were using. At the beginning, they were just standing and fighting, perhaps falling back when flanked, but they had no coherent tactic for overcoming our AT-ATs and AT-STs. After the jump in casualties, their tactics changed considerably."

The scene changed to a short clip of the battle. A lone AT-ST moved down a street, blasting at the Aschen defenders falling back. Then, as it passed an intersection, two large building supports came swinging out of both side streets, crushing the cabin of the AT-ST, which then exploded. The screen split down the middle, showing a new scene eerily like the first one, but set against the backdrop of Kashyyk, and with tree trunks instead of building supports.

"The second clip was from the battle for Kashyyk back home. This was the favored tactic of the Wookies and their Rebel friends. Now, in a completely unrelated universe, we have the exact same tactic being used again! There are two possibilities here. One is that somehow, the same tactic evolved here as the Rebels used. The second, and more likely in my opinion is that we have some rouge Rebels that managed to escape the roundup." Sanders looked pleased with this explanation.

"But, I have another equally valid one. But first a question." The new speaker was one on Neebs' most enthusiastic supporters. Admiral Dalla was quite good at her job. After being recalled from the Maw Cluster after Yavin was destroyed, she became a mid level admiral in the Eighth Fleet, and a capable strategist.

"Of course, Admiral Dalla. I'll see if I can answer it."

"As our preeminent expert on the event that brought us here, would you happen to know if the event was… constrained to our fleet? Might it have included the very Rebels that we were on our way to crush?" As Sanders' face fell, she continued. "If this were indeed the case, we might very well have to deal with a Rebel force present in the area, correct?" She smiled a thin, predator's smile at him.

"I- I guess that might work" Sanders stammered. _'I guess that spending all that time with the scientists out in the Maw was actually useful for her.'_

"Then that would solve the problem, then?" When he didn't answer, Dalla turned to Neebs. "Sir, I would like to take my squadron of SDIIs and take a look around for signs of the Rebels, either from us, or extras. I'll also keep an eye out for more targets, Sir."

Neebs' eyes twinkled in the darkness framing his head. "Permission granted." Before she could offer a salute and dash off, he added, "On one condition. I want you to take Sanders with you and a team of our best scientists." At the rising horror on both their faces, he laughed inside. "That will be all. And now, if there isn't any more to do on this topic, this meeting is over."


	6. Chapter 6: Explanations

**Gamma Site:**

Pelleon glanced around carefully. Sara had tricked their escort into thinking he was still with them, but he knew he didn't have much time. Opening up his pack, he took out a few pieces and assembled them. After double-checking the schematic quickly, he activated it to full power and began his dash back to the campsite they were staying at.

Later that evening, when everyone else on this "bonding trip" had gone to bed, Pelleon pulled out his comlink. After making sure his transmission was coded, he opened a channel to the hypercomm relay. He knew that he had much better tech, but he suspected that if the SGC ever found out about his comlink, his people would have a very hard time. The earthlings were so very inventive, even compared to the Empire, or even the Rebels. He wasn't going to take any unnecessary chances.

"Cardia, come in. This is Recon team 1 reporting."

"This is Cardia recon control. Report." Pelleon heard after a short burst of static. After exchanging his verification code, he dumped both his written report and gave a quick verbal summary.

"We cannot underestimate these people. While the Jaffa seem to be full of internal divisions, the Tau'ri are not like that. They are extremely talented and are used to fighting against huge odds. Still haven't found any Rebel links. In fact it seems unlikely. Some more backup would be nice. Location of this 'Gamma Site' to follow. I'm also requesting clarification of our orders."

"Understood Recon team 1. Upon your next contact, your orders will be waiting. Control, out." Pelleon was a little surprised about that last order. But it did make more sense than letting them contact him and interrupt their operation.

* * *

Sara was deep in conversation with Thomas when Pelleon got up the next morning. "So what made the big change in tactics I heard of in the battle?"

"Huh? You didn't know?"

"No. I was guarding the Stargate building, not fighting on the front lines. We didn't even know how badly we were being beaten until that last order to pull back. Now spill it!"

Raising his hands as if to ward off her attack, Carrot replied, "While I'd love to tell you all about them, I'm afraid that I can't. Now before you jump all over me," he added very quickly, "Vimes ordered me to wait until we could show you the basis for our actions. We'll be showing it over dinner."

Sara glared at Carrot, "You'd better hope he shows it. You might want to run if he doesn't…"

Carrot threw up his hands in defense, "Hey, don't take it out on me! He's the one that's in charge of this, not me."

Sara sighed and walked slowly away. She was very anxious about finding out how the Tau'ri knew so much about Imperial equipment without being in contact with the Rebels. Later on that afternoon, Sara pulled Kyp aside to talk with him.

"They're up to something; I can feel it."

"I know this, you know this. I'd guess that the LT knows it as well. The question really is did the Rebels stumble on this before us or not?" Kyp replied. Suddenly blinking rapidly, he continued quickly. "In fact, we might have a worse problem than we might think. I mean, this is a different quantum reality, right?" Taking in Sara's nod with a quick glance, "So that means that if we could get here, we might be up against some alternate Rebels." He paused, awestruck at the possibilities. "It might have even been a world where the Rebels managed to save Yavin base, or something else as significant as that."

"That's rubbish," Sara quickly broke in. "There's no other way for things to have turned out. I know this for a fact. The Emperor can foresee everything that goes on… at least in our own reality."

"So then the Emperor knew that we were going to vanish into another quantum reality then? That's what you're saying you know. You're saying that he sent us off on purpose, knowing we would vanish." Kyp grinned victoriously at the quick look of shock that flashed across her face. Breaking into laughter when she angrily stormed out of the refugee tent they were in

* * *

**Gamma Site: After dinner**

"So what'd you think? Neat huh?" Vimes proclaimed proudly. "That's how we knew of the weaknesses during the attack. Nifty huh?"

The team, not to mention the Aschen high command was speechless. "The only thing I can think to say is, yes this does explain your surprising depth of knowledge of the enemy's technology and weaknesses." Arlin managed to get out. "This will take some getting used to," glancing around at what was left of the Aschen Council, "We'll have to think on the ramifications of this some more, before we can decide our next step… Please excuse us." The Aschen delegation half-stumbled out of the room.

Sara's team on the other hand was, if it's possible, even more shocked at the whirlwind tour of the Starwars universe than the Aschen were. They didn't even say anything before they left as well. As soon as they were out of earshot of the Tau'ri, Sara rounded on Kyp, "Don't you even say a word! Not one word." She hissed at him, eyes flaring with barely restrained force energy.

Pelleon motioned for them to sneak off later that night for a complete report back to the Cardia.

* * *

**The Woods:**

After Pelleon finished sending the completely insane report back to the Cardia, and from there to the fleet. Kelric brought up the issue that troubled them, "What if we're not the only fleet to show up?"

"You mean like the Rebels? We can take 'em." Kyp said eagerly.

Sara's voice crackled with ice, "They're not _our_ Rebels." Turning her glare on everyone in turn she continued, "If things continue the way things have been going, we'll probably get the Rebels that come from those movies, or maybe something completely different! On the other hand, they could be the same Rebels we were sent to eliminate. We can't stay here long. We're going to have to call for pick up I think as soon as possible."

Pelleon nodded along. Standing up he stretched and dismissed them, "I agree with Sara on this one, but we'll call for a pick up tomorrow afternoon. Get your gear together."

Sara and Pelleon walked off together, but Kelric grabbed Kyp. "I know that with this whole 'Star Wars' business things are pretty weird, but I can't keep from worrying about Pelleon."

"What, why?" Kyp said, completely baffled. "I mean they seem to get along pretty well…"

Shaking his head, Kelric replied, "No that's not it at all. Can't you see how she takes over all the conversations? I'm not sure what she is but she isn't just what she seems."

After a short pause thinking deeply about it, "She could be a part of the Bureau… Would you think that they'd work for Admiral Neebs? More importantly, what would they want from this?" Kyp tensed up, thinking deeply.

"I'm not sure, but we might want to watch her carefully. She's hiding something, something powerful."

* * *

**Gamma Site Orbit: Next Morning**

Earth had taken care to disguise the orbital installations above Gamma Site. Fortunately, they were near the forefront of ECM development in the known galaxy. Unfortunately, those advances did nothing to hide them from the Asgard starship that dropped out of hyperspace above the Gamma Site. Unfortunately, neither the top-of-the-line ECM, nor the close in hyperspace window did much to disguise their presence to the sophisticated gravimetric sensors of the imperial probe in the outer system.

The Asgard commander quickly hailed the base down below. "Greetings. I bring grave news from the Asgard High Council," his image said after it appeared in the main control room.

"What news do you have?" the on duty commander replied, as he frantically signaled for someone higher up to deal with this.

"It appears that several members of the Protected Worlds treaty have been invaded by outsiders. We are not sure where they come from, but they have secured several worlds in a very short period of time."

Now very nervous the duty commander swallowed back his first comment of, "Who's that stupid?!" to think of a… more appropriate response. "I see. Do you have any more details on the attackers? Aschen Prime has also fallen recently to outside invaders."

The Asgard blinked, once. "This is grave news. Here is a short segment of footage of the battle." After a few swift key presses, a clip played showcasing the grey war machines of the Empire steamrolling WWI analog tanks.

"This is so not good."

After informing Stargate Command back on Earth about the recent developments, the Asgard ship announced its intentions to stick around and lend technical aid to the efforts against the Empire. This was seen as a 'good thing' by most people on the base. However, Sara was doing her very best to avoid being anywhere near their sensors after hearing a few horror stories about them (not that they were told to her that way). This all has bearing due to the fact that her team's ride was scheduled to arrive quite soon.

Therefore when she got the updated recovery plan, she had every reason to go and complain to Pelleon. "What are those idiots thinking?" They were in one of the unused lab areas of the base, ostensibly waiting for another briefing later that day. "Explain to me why we are sending even more ships here against the defenses and that new Asgard ship?"

Pelleon was leaning against one of the walls watching Sara pace back and forth around the lab bench. "It could be because we're important enough to warrant this?" Smiling at the dark look tossed his way he continued. "Or, and more likely in my book, it could be that we really need to know more about the combat capabilities of these Asgard, and the level of fixed defenses the Tau'ri can muster. Besides, " he shrugged, "this time they're bringing along quite a bit more than three of the outdated SD-1s and more of the newer Imperial-II SDs, along with assorted screening forces to deal with the fighters."

"You'd better be right." Sara grumbled after pausing momentarily. _'It better not be because of some internal FUA politics.'_

Just then Kyp and Kelric entered. "There you guys are." Kelric breathed. "Do you know just how many unused labs there are right now in this base?"

Sara raised an eyebrow, "No I don't. But I think that you two just might be able to let me know."

Kyp smirked at that. "There are currently 11 unused labs right now." He nodded to himself, "And this was only our seventh. It helps to look at the plans you know."

Pelleon broke his train of self-congratulations. "Well that's great. Here are our orders for pickup. Now we just need to figure out how we're going to enact this." The four settled down around the datapad Pelleon took out from a pouch.

* * *

**Eighth Fleet Command - SSD ****Tyrannus: Orbiting New Kuat**

Admiral Neebs gave a final glance at the scattered paperwork on his desk before sighing contentedly. Pushing the accumulated clutter back for just a little while, he glanced out the large windows behind him. There now being quickly assembled were the beginnings of the Fleet's new shipyards. Once again he thanked the designers and the Emperor who made certain that a single Star Destroyer could take on an entire planet, and then occupy it. Of course things aren't quite the same here, but excepting the few strong powers, most of this space was ripe for the taking.

And take the Empire, via the Eighth Fleet did. Over the past few weeks they had taken over five inhabited worlds and established several mining and industrial sites, some bizarrely overlooked by the natives. It was their loss though. Of the inhabited worlds, two had willingly joined after the diplomatic team landed, one surrendered without a fight, and the last two had been steamrolled by the landing forces. All in all it was a very good haul.

Although for some reason the main settlements were always centered on a large ring structure. There seemed to be a lot of religious or cultural importance around one object, even spread across several star systems.

A chime sounded from the door. "Enter," Neebs said as he turned around to face the visitor. Seeing no one there, he tensed, then relaxed. "You can come out now. I recognize your hand in this you know." A short pause, "Plus I can smell you."

Chuckling came from his right. A tall man wearing a dark robe stepped out of the shadows. "It's good to see you again, my old friend."

Neebs smiled, "It's always good to see you as well Jaleer. How go things with your rival?"

"Things are proceeding well. He actually had a good idea at last."

"Now I'm really interested. If you can actually admit that it was a good idea…"

"I know." Jaleer waved a hand dismissively. "He's called for a group of us to go a scout around the locals. To prevent any major issues, he's called for the lone member of the Imperial Order to be placed in overall authority over the scouting teams."

"I didn't know we even had one of their operative onboard."

"She is the only one. Don't worry. She will not interfere with our plans."

"That's a relief. But tell me that can't be all that's bothering you?"

"Well, it's not really bothering me, but the operative is already in the field. She did this on her own initiative it seems. I brought back with me copies of the reports. You need to look into this. It could change the way we operate in this galaxy entirely."

"Very well. I will take a look at this."

"You'd better my friend. If we don't find out a way to respond, our new empire may be over before it's even started."


	7. Chapter 7 Part 1: Prelude to Destruction

Chapter 7: Part 1

Whoo, it's been a long time since I've updated stuff. Anyway, I'm getting back into this, but I figured I'd put up what I had ready of Chapter 7 so you guys can see _some _progress. Anyway, more is coming, and sorry for the delays and the brevity here.

Anyway, I don't own Starwars, or Stargate SG-1.

* * *

**Gamma Site: T -1 hour**

Sara and Pelleon were the only two who decided to show up to the second briefing. It covered more of the technical data that the SGC had managed to dig up on the Imperial vehicles and weaponry. Sara was both dismayed at the amount of accurate data they had, but also relieved that they lacked many of the latest developments that the Empire, no _her_ Empire had made. They then spent the rest of the time brainstorming ideas on how to adapt to stop them. Sara took copious note on this portion of the meeting.

At the very end of the meeting, the senior Aschen leadership was called away for an emergency meeting of some kind. They weren't told what it was about.

**Gamma Site: T -30 mins**

"— cannot stay here much longer! We demand that you hand over one of your unsettled worlds for our usage immediately!"

"There's no way that we're going to hand over a piece of prime real estate just like that!" An earth officer yelled back at the Aschen elder.

"Now, now. We have some time to talk this out, I'm sure." Arlin tried to calm the situation down. It wasn't working.

"We don't _have_ time! The Empire could track us down at any time! With their advanced technology, they must have been able to extract the destination from the stargate by now. Their troops could be about to launch an attack at any moment!"

Blustering right back, the same officer replied, "No! That's what I mean. They cannot have done so, as they are completely unfamiliar with this form of travel. It would take them a lot longer than this to even figure out just what a stargate even does, let alone how to extract destination coordinates out of a gate!"

Carrot thought that that was a good argument. It even fit in with one of his theories about that strange encounter right before the attack on Aschen Prime. It fit in with what the strangers were saying, as bizarre as it seemed at the time. It was becoming more and more likely in his mind that those people were some kind of scouts for the Empire. Although, he was sure he'd seen something else strange recently…

Vimes was leaning against the wall, not quite smoking yet. He was indoors after all. Shaking his head at the politician's antics, personally he was waiting to see just how far the Aschen elders were willing to push before they were rebuffed, hopefully physically. So when Cheery tapped him to get his attention, he started.

"What is it Cheery?"

"Sir, you're wanted in the main control room. There's a short briefing on the known Imperial victories."

That got his attention, and it was better than listening to the shouting match. "Lead the way!"

Sara quietly left the meeting separately from Pelleon. They were all supposed to meet up in a remote area, so they could escape in the confusion of the assault. Sara wasn't convinced that this was the best of ideas, besides she hadn't gotten a good workout in a long time.

Still, she made her way to the assembly point on time. Kyp and Kelric were already there waiting for her when she showed up. Pelleon was nowhere to be seen. They had less then five minutes before the attack began.

* * *

**Gamma Site Orbit: T -2 mins**

After reviewing the data that the Tau'ri had taken in the battle over Aschen Prime, the Asgard commander had been trying to make sense of the FTL drive the Imperials were using. He couldn't figure out just how it worked, or even what the readings corresponded to yet.

But when he noticed the same type of energy readings as he was studying, he knew there would be complications to his mission parameters.

**Bridge of the Cardia: T +1**

The Cardia and the rest of the flotilla dropped out of hyperspace in a well-practiced maneuver. No fewer than five SD-IIs and eight SD-Is dropped into a spearhead formation, flanked by Victory-II Star Destroyers, Carrack cruisers and other lighter elements of the fleet.

However, the mission wasn't just a flyby razing. Therefore, Captain Yamato called on his communications officer to open a channel to the surface.

"This is Captain Yamato if the Imperial Eighth Fleet, to the Tau'ri commander and the fugitive former leaders of the Aschen Confederation. Please respond immediately." Yamato smiled thinly, as he knew what the goal of the operation really was. Hopefully they got what they needed out of this charade so he could finish up the operation, and also retrieve Sara and her team.

**Gamma Site Command Center:**

"Sir!" the on duty comm. Tech called out. "We have an imperial captain on the line. He's asking to speak to the base commander."

From another console, the sensor tech spoke up also, "Sir, over 25 large contacts have appeared in orbit! They look Imperial, at least 13 Star Destroyers!"

'_We can't stand up to that kind of firepower! I'll have to talk to them.'_ "Put me on. And call up Arlin. He needs to hear this also!" He turned towards the main viewscreen. "I am the base commander. What are your intentions? This is Tau'ri space you are currently trespassing in."

'_Well, at least he can bluff,'_ thought Yamato. "As I've said, I am Captain Yamato of the Imperial Eighth Fleet. I have come to extradite the fugitive leaders of the former Aschen Confederation. They are currently wanted for war crimes. If you hand them over, we'll have no need to involve you further." _'Let's see you deal with that offer!'_

'_That's... not good.'_ "I'm afraid that we do not have an extradition treaty with you, so I'm afraid that I cannot just hand them over to you. However—"

He was cut off by a signal from the Asgard commander. "The Asgard recommend against this course of action. From the data we have gathered, it is the Empire that should be brought up on 'war crime' charges in this latest incident, not the Aschen."

Yamato smiled even wider. "We are not asking on our own behalf. We are here at the request of one of our new protectorates. We are only asking for justice to be served on the plague masters… I'm sure you can see the reasoning behind this simple request."

Arlin by this point had been able to catch the last exchange. He immediately called for an evacuation of all but the highest echelons of the refugees through the stargate. This was promptly started.

Back up on the Cardia, one of the sensor techs, sent a message to Captain Yamato about an energy surge from the planet's surface. "I suggest you shut down your wormhole generator, or stop the guilty from fleeing. Or else we will be forced to take measures against those who harbor mass murderers!" Yamato said, breaking into the reply by the Gamma site commander. "You have two minutes to turn off the generator, or bring the leadership on screen with you to be turned over to us."

After only a little over one minute, the Star Destroyers targeted the Asgard Warship and opened fire.


	8. Chapter 7 Part 2: Direct Conflict

And here we go with the rest of Chapter 7, making this the longest chapter yet. Chapter 8 should be out sooner than it took between 6 and seven, but maybe longer than between 7 part one and part 2.

Anyway, like usual, I don't own SG-1 or Starwars.

**

* * *

Gamma Site Orbit: Now**

An alpha strike from 13 Star Destroyers is not something to ignore, even when you knew it would be coming. Luckily, the Asgard are known for the strength of their shields, or else, well… All the same, even accounting for misses, and ECM, the number of hits that the science vessel took did considerable damage, but didn't manage to drop the shields in one volley.

On the Cardia's Bridge, it was a satisfied Captain Yamato that ordered his flotilla to, "Unleash the full power of the fully operational Ion Cannons!" He had figured, and High Command had agreed that if their enemy already knew of your weaponry, well, why hold back and hide it anymore? With the icy-white blasts streaking towards the beleaguered Asgard vessel in the company of their slightly faster turbolaser cousins, they formed a formidable wave of death and destruction.

As pretty as this was to observe, those on the receiving end were not nearly so appreciative. "The Ion blasts are super-effective against our shields. Now trying to compensate for the unexpected power involved."

"What went wrong?" The Commander asked.

"Even though we knew that the Empire used Ion weapons, we underestimated the level of refinement that we've seen." The tech mentioned as the ship shook after taking more hits. "We could not have expected this. Even the Tollan weapons weren't on this order of magnitude."

Grimacing slightly, the Commander opened up a channel to the Tau'ri base below. "Commander, I regret to inform you that we will be forced to leave shortly. Our shields can't take firepower of that magnitude for very long. I wish you the best."

Down on the surface, the base commander nodded in response. "I understand. But before you leave, can I ask a favor of you?"

"If it is within our power to do so, we will."

"Then could you transport all of the F-302 crews to your ship and return them back to a Tau'ri base? Otherwise, they will all die here in vain."

The diminutive alien nodded stiffly. "We will do so. I hope that you escape unharmed." With that, the small Asgard vessel turned away from the incoming Imperial Flotilla and accelerated towards the battle between the F-302s and the TIE fighters. Just as more of the imperial support ships were lining up their firing solutions, it opened a hyperspace window and departed, leaving the remains of the F-302 wings behind which were quickly destroyed at little cost to the Empire.

* * *

Seeing the flight of the main source of worry, Captain Yamato re-opened communications with the Tau'ri base. Standing proudly on the raised deck of his bridge, he idly observed the flustered base commander's final delaying action.

"How DARE you violate your word. You said we had two minutes to decide; yet you opened fire after only one! What kind of treachery is this?" Pausing to breath briefly, he continued. "How can we trust your word if we clearly see that you don't keep to it already?"

Captain Yamato calmly responded, "The timer was for you, not the Asgard oppressors. If you notice, we didn't target your fighters until after the time limit ended. However," and he elongated the word, "the Imperial navy see no such reason to extend the same courtesy to the oppressors that are the Asgard."

In the face of that statement, even the base commander was stunned, albeit briefly. The same could not be said for the rest of his command staff. They ran around busily within the mountain complex with the final evacuation preparations, and destroying critical data. "…How the HELL do you come up with the idea that the Asgard are oppressors?! They've been this galaxy's only hope—"

"Yes, yes, I know," Yamato interjected, "The only hope against the Go'uld. Regardless, that's the designation that has been placed on them at this time. But back to the matter at hand, I'm giving you one final chance. Hand over the Aschen leadership, and you will be spared a meaningless death here defending plague mongers. Refuse us again, and we will be forced to land troops to retrieve them by force."

Straightening up, the commander paused a moment before answering, "We refuse to accommodate your demands, imperialist scum. Come and get them if you dare!" Then he cut the communication link. Quickly checking the progress of the evacuation, he found that the last report from the radar scanners was an incoming landing force, escorted by fighters.

* * *

**Gamma Site: Assembly Point**

Sara looked down from gazing at the sky where she could just make out the explosions and blasts from the space battle above as she felt Pelleon approach the extraction zone. "You're late." She says.

"I know, sorry," Pelleon replies as he fully enters the clearing. "I felt it would be better for us to split up in order to avoid detection. As you can see," he swept his hands in a motion encompassing the clearing, "we did get here fine."

"Well, you are right about that," Kyp filled the silence following those words. "But on the bright side, that base is about to get ground into bantha fodder! Look, the landing craft are dropping."

As the rest of the team turned to look at the incoming landing craft, Sara instead narrowed her eyes at Pelleon, deep in thought. Just before she could question him, their commlinks went off, signaling that their ride was just about there. _'Fine then, you're saved for now, but I'll figure out what's gotten you so disturbed sooner or later.'_

* * *

**Gamma Site: Defensive Line**

Like all of Earth's off world bases, the Gamma Site had a defensive detachment that was tasked with external security. Unfortunately for the Gamma Site, it was one of the mostly hidden research facilities, meaning that the estimated attacks would come from the gate or from orbit, so there wasn't much in the way of armored vehicles for land deployment, or even much weaponry that could take out tanks.

This may not have seemed like that much of a bad thing, due to the size restrictions that the Stargate network enforced, especially when the gate itself is underneath a mountain, however, these measures did mean that the Gamma site lacked the weaponry with which to defend itself against the Imperial ground offensive.

Captain Yamato and taken no chances this time. The ground forces were back up with both stormtrooper regiments and standard Army units as well, each bringing their respective armored components as well. Their advance was nearly unimpeded due to the strength of their armor and in some cases shielded vehicles. Wherever the defenders took a stand, they were quickly flanked until they had fully retreated to the base itself.

During the fighting retreat, the rest of the personnel were busy evacuating via the Stargate, starting with the non-combat types. SG-20 was not assigned to the active defense, and was instead tasked with chivvying scientists and their projects down to the gate room.

"-I can assure you Commander Vimes, that yes, I do require the sequencer to be moved with us, as it's essential for my work! Not to mention what could happen if those—"

The scientist's tirade was rudely interrupted by said Commander Vimes as Angua bodily dragged him out of his lab, assorted papers falling steadily out of the sheaf he clutched close to his chest, "I know that, but there isn't going to be room for your machine in the elevator, not to mention that we've got bigger problems than the Empire getting access to the remains of your research." He paused outside the elevator and handed the reedy scientist over to the small detachment that was covering the elevator on this floor. "Here, make sure he gets to the gate. And don't let him come back here for anything he 'forgot'." After they nodded, and took custody, Vimes moved towards a stairwell, his team following. "Before you ask, we're headed back to General Adams to check to see if there's anything else he wants us to do now that we've done clean up for him." He turned back around as they descended.

* * *

General Adams was waiting them at the command center. "We have a slight issue for you."

"What is it? Do you need us to take down some AT-STs, sir?" Vimes responded, the rest of SG-20 settling into positions out of the way of the last of the control room techs.

"No, that's not it. I'm actually ordering you to fall back now," he held his hand up to forestall Angua's retort. "We need you alive. As an SG team, you're going to be playing a large role in the coming war. We can't beat them on the ground in a strait up fight, just like at the start against the Goa'uld. This is going to be mostly a guerrilla war until we can find some way to hold off their fleet."

"Understood sir."

"But like I said, I do have one errand for you to do on your way out. I want you to escort Minister Arlin back to the Alpha site for ongoing negotiations. He should be coming soon with the last of the Aschen diplomatic team." As he finished, the entire mountain shook. With the first faint traces of dust beginning to fall from the ceiling, General Adams ordered them to move out.

They moved swiftly though the seemingly chaotic frenzy to the gate, and met up with the last of the Aschen leadership and their guards. Carrot tried to make sure that everyone was there, but after hearing that the base was compromised, everyone had to hurry through the gate. _'But I know we're missing some people'_ Carrot thought as he stepped through. It wasn't until later that he realized that Sara and her unit weren't on with them.

Cheery was wondering just how had the Empire found the Gamma Site so quickly.

* * *

**Gamma Site: Bridge of the Cardia**

"Sir, reports are coming in from the leading elements that the defenders have collapsed the turboshafts. They're fearing that they might be trying to self destruct, sir." Captain Yamato nodded his thanks to the tech. _'They had a way out, so why not seal themselves off and evacuate.'_

"Have all forces fall back, bring any prisoners with them. If they don't self-destruct, we'll just wait them out from orbit." With that commanded, he turned command of the mop-up to his subordinates and retired to contact High Command.

Minutes later, the report came that the base had exploded, and collapsed in on itself, the entire mountain sagging in places. While some in the command staff wanted to descend on the remains and examine the technology left in the base, they were overruled due to the fact that their position was known. But as a concession, a small listening base was set up in the outer reaches of the system to check to see if anyone did respond to the attack.

* * *

**Imperial shuttle returning to the Cardia**

The smoking base was visible as they ascended up into orbit. Sara could just overhead Pelleon mutter something under his breath, "Is this what we need to do?"

Turning to face him overtly, Sara couldn't quite hide her surprise. "What? Of course this is what we need to do."

"You really think so, don't you?" Smiling sheepishly he continued. "I'm not quite so sure High Command is going about this the right way."

Now quite alarmed for her friend Sara leaned in closer. "I wouldn't start talking like that. We're just carrying out the Emperor's Will here, just like we would back home. Nothing more, and nothing less. You can't expect—"

"I know, and that's exactly what I mean." After that, he wouldn't respond at all to anyone until they got back to the Cardia.

* * *

**Super Star Destroyer Tyrannus: Deep Space**

Grand Admiral Neebs strode in to the impromptu meeting. Checking to make sure that every one was here, he sat down at the head of the table. "Good, you're all here. I have some very disturbing news for you all." He paused again before resuming. "I've just heard back from one of the first Recon teams we've sent out. They discovered something very dangerous to our position from one of these, 'Tau'ri' bases."

"What do you mean, dangerous? I thought we had decided that there was nothing here that could stand up to us?" Admiral Mutabi interjected.

"You should see for yourselves." Neebs hit a key on his armrest, causing the central holoprojector to light up. As the shocking clips of footage played out, the assembled admirals and general grew pale, shocked to their very core. As it finished up, Neebds spoke again. "I can assure you that this is real. Apparently we are well known here by some factions."

Mutabi had shaken off his shock and worked his way quite swiftly to the only possible outlet for his anger, "This intolerable _rebel propaganda!_ I'll hunt down whoever made this and kill them myself!" A round of agreeing noises spread around the table.

"Well, then I'll leave this matter to you, Rear-admiral Mutabi. You have my best wishes in this." And he did indeed wish him luck. The situation was very alarming to have a breach of this magnitude. "Now if there's nothing else?" But there was he saw, one of the Army generals. "You may proceed General Hardin."

"While shocked like many of you were at this rubbish, I did notice something interesting. While at first glance it appears that many of our tactics have been revealed to our enemies, there are some major differences between what I saw and what doctrines we actually put in practice. Now before we drop all appearances of these tactics, I'd like to suggest that we instead play up to the notions that we've seen. Yes it makes us more predictable, but it also should give us the chance to spring a major trap in a land engagement down the line."

After weighing the idea, Admiral Neebs nodded, "I agree. But I think we should inform at least the recon teams we have in place about this discovery. They're bound to find out sooner than later, so we should inform them at a time of our choosing." After General Hardin sat back down, he glanced at his notes and continued. "Now we should move on to more routine reports."

The rest of the assembled officers or their subordinates delivered their reports on items varying from the spread of the Empire, "—mostly to food colonies so far sir," to the state of the Holonet rollout, "On schedule sir. No major errors so far," to the ongoing efforts to map out the hyperspace routs with captured local craft and probe droids, "Very tedious, but relentlessly continuing. We know the importance of this. The local's vessels are very useful for mapping out gravity conditions around the galaxy," to the development of bases and factory worlds, "We have plans drawn up, and beginning in several locations so far. They're not urgent due to our space based industry, but they do bring jobs and other assorted benefits to new systems."

All in all the only concern that was going through Admiral Neebs' mind was how to differentiate the new ruling class from just the Admiralty. "Your Excellency," did sound much better than "Sir" after all.

* * *

**Undisclosed location: Now?**

"They're here. Reports have indicated this. Luckily we still can act now, and save everyone. You have your orders, just don't get caught!"

The lights in the darkened room flared to light, the assembled leadership stood up and ambled out of the room.

* * *

Last Updated: 5/18/09


	9. Notice of Rewrite

Just an alert. I've decided to rewrite the story, but I'll be leaving this up in its original form. The rewrite is called just "Eighth Fleet Saga 1" again and you can find it on my profile. Sorry for the long wait.


End file.
